ISLAMABAD, April 19: The Supreme Court has held that it is not the fundamental right of newspaper owners to manage their finances to run their businesses, which includes payment of wages to their employees. "If they have no finances, then their business is bound to collapse and merely non-availability of funds would not involve fundamental right of the petitioners."

In its detailed order issued on Monday on a petition of the All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) challenging the Seventh Wage Board Award and the Newspaper Employees (Conditions of Service) Act, 1973, which was dismissed for not being maintainable, the court observed that managing finances of a business was no fundamental right.

The Supreme Court observed that as far as the petitioners were concerned they had the fundamental right to establish the business of newspapers but it was not their right how they would be managing finances to run the business, which also included payment of wages to their employees.

The newspaper owners in their petition had contended that determination of their employees' salary by a wage board, constituted under the Newspaper Employees (Conditions of Service) Act 1973, was a violation of their fundamental right to determine wages of their employees keeping in view the financial position of their organization.

The apex court ruled that if the argument of the newspaper employers regarding determination of salary was accepted then every industrial dispute between employers and employees relating to the payment of wages would be brought before the Supreme Court under Article 184 (3) of the Constitution without considering whether such a dispute had given rise to the question of public importance or not.

The Supreme Court bench consisted of Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, Justice Sardar Raza Khan and Justice Falak Sher. Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, who authored the judgment, ruled that a statement was made by the petitioners' counsel, Abdul Hafeez Pirzada, that the owners of newspapers were ready to implement the Seventh Wage Board Award to the extent of working journalists but not to non-working journalists including qasid, peons, malis, etc.

The Supreme Court bench observed that the statement by the All Pakistan Newspapers Society counsel regarding working journalists and non-working journalists, had narrowed down the controversy.

"On the basis of the statement so made by the counsel for petitioner it can safely be held that the award is valid for all intent and purpose to the extent of working journalists, therefore it does not give rise to the question of public importance involving fundamental rights to their extent," the detailed judgment of the Supreme Court said.